


Before the End

by RobinRedR



Category: Young Justice, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Coldhearted aftermath, Dick being a little shit, Endgame, Fluff, Identity Reveal, M/M, Unrequited Love, Wally's powers don't work anymore, but it's written backwards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 19:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1440229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinRedR/pseuds/RobinRedR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the end to the beginning, six years of friendship. And they never got the chance to say what they really meant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SageStormAshes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageStormAshes/gifts).



> It’s exam week and what do I do? Write a fic. Evidently I’ve got my priorities straight… Hope you enjoy.

**The end** was when Nightwing replayed the same ten seconds worth of feed over and over and _over_ again, trying to read the words on those blurred lips before they vanished.

The end was the sound of silent tears.

The end was finality, and the bitter taste of words that were left too late to be spoken.

~::~::~::~::~

 **The end** was when Wally ran and ran and _ran_ , determined to save the world if it was the last thing he did. Which it might very well be, judging by the strange buzzing in his fingertips that betrayed the fragility of his body in its current state.

A blur of red passed him by, and Wally was suddenly reminded of his very first time out in the field, thirteen years old, and his hair still singed in places after the Experiment. (Yes, he’d insisted on it being capitalized, because now that Kid Flash was going to be making headlines, it was sure to go down in history. Imagine that; one day kids would be learning that date in their chemistry textbooks under ‘most important events in the scientific history’! … Well. It never hurt to dream.) His uncle had brought him out of the house to finally test his speeds, and he’d raced joyous circles around Wally singing “dare you to catch me~” because he was as much of a dork as Wally was, despite being a grown man.

Maybe he might have caught up one day, but it was too late to hope for that now.

Bart would have to fill his empty footsteps… literally. He’d probably have a better chance anyway, he had the speedforce in his _blood_. Wear my name with honor, kid.

The buzz trailed up his fingers to his palms, and he tried to brush them against the fabric of his yellow uniform like he would if they were sweaty, except they kind of just phased through his body and whoops, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

He squeezed his eyes shut and ran, ran like he hadn’t run in years, damn the consequences.

_Fix a point in your mind, a goal, run towards it. Don’t stop till you get there._

This chrysalis was going to _stop._ He was Kid Flash. He was Wally West. He was a superhero even if he hadn’t worn the suit in ages. He had people here he needed to protect. He had the _world_ he needed to protect.

And if he was going to go, it better be victorious, or he’d come back and haunt himself in the afterlife. Or something. (He was willing to set aside his disbelief in the supernatural for the sake of spurring his legs on faster.)

The buzzing had reached his elbows now, and Wally was reminded bizarrely of some children’s nursery rhyme about a kid being swallowed by a boa constrictor. That would probably be infinitely more terrifying, though. Wally hated snakes.

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die, but that’s not really the case. He couldn’t even really think about anything other than catching up to Barry one last time. He wasn’t even fully aware that… He just needed to… say…

Frightened blue eyes fixed him from behind the red cowl. Wally was reminded of another shade of blue, a little deeper, a little more mischievous, one he would never be able to say farewell to.

“I’m sorry…” he gasped out, stumbling over his words and his feet as they both seemed to fall through the cracks. “Tell him… Tell them…” Barry slowed down fractionally, his arm reaching out towards Wally, but it was too late. His body shook, he felt like his limbs were being torn apart, the spaces between his very atoms growing and growing to swallow him in the cosmic void. It didn’t even hurt, it was just like dematerializing in a zeta beam. Except there was no exit. He was just simply dematerializing.

Everything flickered a few times, snow stinging his eyes despite the goggles. Barry’s horrified face. The ground. The snow. The cold. (He could still feel.)

_Tell him I loved him and I never got the chance to say it myself._

And then nothing.

~::~::~::~::~

 **One year before the end** was when Wally called him from a dingy little telephone booth in Central City.

“Hello?”

“Yooo Dick,” Wally slurred. “Dick my man. Dick-man. Hey, you know there are these amazing German sweet things called Dickmanns? But like, they’re actually heaven on earth; creamy shit on the inside that sticks in your throat, covered in chocolate, and there’s even a waffle bottom. You literally can’t have better. Have you ever tried those? Next time I go to Germany I’ll bring you back a box but I’ll probably end up eating them all before I get back. I’m pretty sure that’s what happened last time too.”

“Um… who…” A pause. “Wally?”

“That’s my name, glad you remembered it,” Wally said bitterly, holding the phone tightly against his ear to try and hear even Dick’s faint breaths through the crappy phone line.

“Ah… what’s going on? This isn’t your phone number.” Dick’s voice seemed caught between curiosity and feigned coolness.

“I chucked my phone at the wall earlier,” Wally deadpanned.

Dick was silent.

“Dude, do you have a moment? I could really use a bro to talk to right now.” He was proud of the fact that his voice didn’t even wobble.

But he could hear the rustle of fabric through the line. “I’m getting ready to go on patrol now, you know that, Walls…”

The familiar nickname only made the dismissal sting sharper.

“That’s what you always say. Can’t you leave that for a night? I haven’t seen you in ages. Your stupid city can take care of itself for a few hours, can’t it?”

Dick sighed, and the sound felt almost intimate with how close Wally was pressing the phone to his ear, as if he could somehow bring Dick closer by molding his face into the plastic receiver.

“Crime doesn’t wait for you when you’re just having a bad day.”

“Then you _make_ it. Dude!” Wally suddenly slammed his fist into the side of the telephone booth with a resounding thump. “What’s your problem? It’s like you don’t even _want_ to talk to me. Is something going on? I’m… We’ve never held secrets back and stuff, that’s not who we are.” Wally swallowed past the lump in his throat. No secrets. Yeah right.

The sound of zipping kevlar had stopped. “I’m sorry KF, I really am,” he said, and had at least the decency to pretend to sound guilty. Wally could merely hope it was genuine, but he knew better than to fall for Dick’s charms. “I’ve just been swamped lately; the Joker case is taking up all my time in and out of _both_ uniforms. It’s just… a heck of a lot of work. Things will slow down when this all blows over.”

“You work yourself too hard,” muttered Wally. “You can’t keep pushing yourself to your limits in both of your weird schizophrenic style lives, that’s not healthy.”

Dick’s whole demeanor suddenly turned clipped, and Wally could feel the change even through the artificial atmosphere of the phone.

“First of all, it’s not called schizo, it’s called dissociative identity disorder, _if_ you’re going to stoop so low as to liken me to a mental illness. Second of all, you’re neither my mother nor my boyfriend, and how I choose to spend my life is actually none of your business.”

Wally tensed. “Um, actually it is. I’m your _best friend._ We’re supposed to have each other’s backs, dude. Question our decisions.” He hesitated, and then decided to add: “That’s what a best pal’s for, isn’t it?”

The hitch in Dick’s breath told him that he remembered it too, the first time Wally had said those lines all those years ago. There was no further sound over the line, however, and Wally swallowed hard, doubt curling like bitter smoke in his empty chest.

“I mean, I _am_ still your best friend… right?”

Dick made a strange sound over the line, something between a sad laugh and a grunt of pain. It lodged painfully somewhere in Wally’s stomach. “Of course you are, Wally. I… You shouldn’t ever have to question that. I’m sorry.” A short pause, where Wally waited with bated breath because he could feel that Dick wasn’t done speaking yet.

“You said you had something you needed to talk about?”

Yeah. The only other person he had ever loved had broken up with him. Or, more like _he’d_ broken up with Artemis, but it was easier to say it the other way around. Now he had no home, a few pitiful dollars in his pocket, and he was mildly intoxicated and questioning his life choices and he just really needed someone to set him straight again. The words died in his throat though.

“Not really. I just wanted to talk to you again.”  Dick must have heard the rough cracks in his voice that betrayed him, but thankfully he didn’t comment.

“Alright. Come over to my apartment, I’ll cut patrol short tonight. Go ahead and zeta to Berlin and get us some of those Dickmanns, while you’re at it, ‘cause I might still be a couple hours. Sound good?”

Wally closed his hand tightly around the receiver. Dick’s voice had mellowed into something warmer, a touch of familiarity that Wally hadn’t heard in a while and which he hadn’t known he’d missed as much as he did.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Good. Okay. I’ll be as quick as a flash.” His lips twitched into something resembling a broken smile at the pained groan on the other end of the line.

“You’re absolutely insufferable.”

“You love me for it.”

The faint sound of a cap being closed, and Wally knew Nightwing had just finished pasting his mask on. He hung up without waiting to see if Dick would reply, and headed for the nearest zeta tube, hoping he had enough bucks in his pocket to buy them a giant box of German marshmallow sweets. He sort of smiled, and that was definitely a step up. They weren’t perfect anymore, and maybe they’d never be again, but at least there was a mutual effort.

That was the most he could ever ask for.

~::~::~::~::~

 **Two years before the end** was when Wally called Dick over to his apartment in Palo Alto, his voice grave on the phone and his face even graver in person.

“Hey dude,” Wally smiled wryly, closing the door behind Dick and leaning against it, as if there was a weight on his shoulders too heavy for him to stand straight under.

Dick crossed his arms and eyed his friend with a raised eyebrow. “Alright, spit it out KF. What’s up? Some girl dump you?” He flashed white teeth in the darkness of Wally’s front hall, trying to make light of a situation he still didn’t understand.

“I’m quitting the Team.”

Oh.

Not what he’d been expecting.

Dick blinked, once, thankful for the shades that hid his eyes because he wasn’t sure what kind of an expression he was making. It probably resembled a goldfish.

“Mm yeah. Why don’t you invite me in.”

Dick sat quietly on the couch as Wally moved into the kitchen, his movements oddly precise and hesitant. He brought over two glasses of water, no food, and sat gingerly on the seat next to the brunet.

Dick took his proffered glass wordlessly. “Well? You gonna explain yourself?”

Wally shrugged, not meeting his eye. “I’m quitting; I told you. That’s just… that.”

Dick stared. “You’re quitting.”

“Yep.”

The Boy Wonder set the glass back down on the coffee table so he didn’t accidentally crush it. “Care you enlighten me on _why_ such a thought would occur to you?” He fought to keep his voice level.

Wally swallowed, running a hand through his hair in a nervous tick. “I don’t… want to… anymore.”

“Bullshit.” Wally actually jumped at his outburst, because Dick very rarely swore. “Wally, this is coming from the kid who, quote, ‘feels naked in civvies’. What’s the real reason?”

Wally stared at his shoes. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what? Tell me?”

“No.” His eyes snapped up then, and the raw anguish in their depths nearly knocked the breath out of Dick. “I _can’t._ I can’t be on the Team anymore. I can’t run anymore. I’m not… I’m not…”

“Whoa, hey! What do you mean you can’t run anymore?”

“I talked to Uncle Barry,” started the speedster. “I’m… it stated hurting sometimes, when I ran too long, and it started taking longer and longer to… stop, you know. Come to a stop. All in one piece. Like, just milliseconds, but I noticed. I didn’t want to tell anymore but Barry noticed too. And so we did some tests, ‘cause Barry had a theory, and—and Dick, I _can’t_ anymore. I’ll never be able to or I might… I just…”

Dick grabbed onto Wally’s wrist which was flailing around as the disjointed tale spewed from his lips.

“Dude, take a breath, okay? Slow down, I’m losing you here.”

“Slowing down’s most of the issue,” Wally muttered darkly, but at least the panicked look in his eyes had faded. Dick squeezed his hand, feeling the subtle vibrations of Wally’s warm skin against his fingertips. Bruce used to take his hand whenever he was on the edge of breaking, and it was amazing how such small actions could be so comforting. Hopefully it would have the same effect on Wally.

“What were the tests about? Why can’t you run anymore?” he asked as gently as he could.

Wally swallowed, staring fore lonely into Dick’s face. The Boy Wonder pushed his glasses up onto the top of his head because he knew Wally was fractionally more likely to open up without the barrier of dark glass between them.

“I did the experiment on myself when I was eleven, right.” Dick nodded. “I hadn’t hit puberty yet. Or, not significantly. But now my body’s changing so dramatically… my metabolism, especially. And whatever… whatever the chemicals did to me to let me reach the speedforce doesn’t work the same way now, it’s literally destroying my body. I don’t know, Dick, we hardly know anything about how it works. But the more I used my superspeed the more I’m fucking up my body, and it can only support the strain for so long.”

Dick stared blankly. That was so… so… not unbelievable, per se, but just entirely unexpected. Wally was Kid Flash and Kid Flash _was_ his speed. Without that… Dick’s mind whizzed. Had Bruce know this was a possibility? Most likely. Why hadn’t he told Dick, then?

“Define ‘fucking up your body’,” Dick said slowly, trying to mentally piece together everything he knew about Wally and speedsters.

“Well,” Wally’s leg jiggled up and down nervously. “Barry says I might die.”

Dick’s breath caught in his throat and he felt like a brick had been slammed into his stomach. Wally’s green eyes looked into his imploringly, and in that moment, Dick was struck by how _young_ Wally looked. Sure, he was eighteen now and an adult in the eyes of the law, but this kind of shit… no one should have to deal with this no matter which digits made up your age.

Something must have shown on Dick’s face because Wally smiled dryly. “Yep. But I can stop that from happening, or at least slow it down, as long as I never tap into the speedforce again.” He tried to smile brighter, but the agony in his eyes wasn’t fooling Dick in the least. Running was Wally’s life, his escape, his world. Dick couldn’t ever imagine giving up his life as Robin, and frankly, it was probably a lot harder for Wally than it was for Dick.

Dick had never _wanted_ to become Robin; but becoming Kid Flash had been Wally’s _dream._

“I… really don’t know what to say,” Dick said honestly, feeling so utterly helpless. He hated this feeling more than anything.

“You don’t have to. I just wanted to let you know, since you’re my best bro and all.” His composure broke then suddenly and he dropped his head into his hands, clutching at his hair. “God, I don’t know what to do. How can I just give all this up? I’m completely _useless_ now.”

Dick leaned forward on instinct and wrapped his arm around Wally’s broad shoulders, scooting closer on the sofa. “Of course you’re not useless, don’t ever—”

“Without my speed I’m _nothing._ You, you don’t understand. You and Artie and Roy… You guys don’t have meta powers. When something goes wrong with your gear of your tech, you always have yourself to fall back on. ‘Cause that’s who you are. For me? There’s nothing without my speed.”

“You can still be a superhero. There’s more to crime fighting than throwing a mean punch.” Dick layered his words with meaning, and judging by the way Wally tensed and then let out a huffing laugh, he remembered it too. Dick squeezed his best friend tight, resting his chin on the other’s shoulder and rubbing small circles into his shirt, tiny concentric circles like he’d done to calm Zitka down, once upon a time.

“It’ll be alright, Walls. It’s not over yet. We’ll find a way around this, so don’t just give up, kay?”

Wally sniffled, pulling Dick close. “I’m so glad I have you.”

Dick tightened his grip, heart feeling leaden at the sincere tone of Wally’s voice, because it would be so easy to imagine that those simple words meant more than they truly did. And that was a dangerous path to go down on.  So he settled for pressing his nose into Wally’s hair and whispering a promise into his ear that, “I’ll always be here for you, don’t worry.”

~::~::~::~::~

 **Three years before the end** was when Wally first realized Dick was beautiful.

He was beautiful when he fought: all that power coiled up in one tiny body, like a spring, ready to explode – dangerous. And when he let fly, he _danced._ Pirouette, cabriole, saut. Danced to a lilting music only he could hear, accompanied by the hoots and applause of an invisible audience.  Seven years of carefully honed skills, paired with the impossible grace of a born acrobat, and there you have it: the Boy Wonder.

Wally was a scientist, of course he knew that humans could not fly; force of lift must equal force of gravity and that was impossible. But he was pretty sure, watching Dick fling himself at the ground, arms spread out like wings and catching himself in a roll and a grappling line at the very last minute, that Dick was the closest a human ever would come to it.

He was beautiful when he laughed, especially when it was in response to something Wally had said. He’d never been inhibited with expressing his joy, and Wally loved that. The way Dick would throw his head back and laugh till he was clutching his stomach and no sound even came out anymore, that was the best. Especially because those moments were becoming less and less common, and if there was one thing Wally hated, it was silence.

Believe it or not, a lot of the stupid things Wally did were not only because of his clumsiness, but also because he wanted to hear that laughter again.

“You’re such an _idiot,_ KF,” Dick would gasp out, with that fond twinkle in his eye that had Wally’s breath nearly catching in his chest.

And when he wasn’t laughing _at_ Wally he was laughing _with_ him, and of all the memorable pranks they played, that was Wally’s favorite part.

He was beautiful when he cried, too. Not that Wally enjoyed seeing Dick cry, of course. And really, it happened too rarely for Wally to call it a common occurrence, though he knew deep down that with each one of Dick’s laughs there was a sob hidden in there somewhere as well.

Dick never wailed, or broke down, but he’d sit there on the roof and look at the stars or the clouds and the tears would roll silently down his cheeks, catching the starlight in their brilliant trails.

Like comets, Wally thought. Breaking through the atmosphere and leaving a trail of flame in their wake.

“Wish upon a shooting star,” he’d suggest, even if the sky was dark, and Dick never asked why. Maybe he understood intrinsically, somehow.

And Wally never asked what Dick wished for.

~::~::~::~::~

 **Four years before the end** was when the Team took an evening off duty to relax at the beach, after a particularly grueling mission the night before. It was nearing eight o’clock now, and Wally was pestering M’gann about when the barbecue would be ready, and Dick was watching the sky turn every shade of pink and orange.

“I don’t see _you_ offering to help, Baywatch,” snapped an irritated archer in stead of her Martian friend, who was, of course, too polite to call Wally out on his shit personally.

“I would, but every time I do anything you kick me away! Literally!”

“Probably because you fail at anything we set you to do, and it’s just generally safer to keep you out of reach,” Zatanna replied with a smirk, waving her metal tongs at the speedster threateningly.

Dick pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the scene, failing to hide his snicker at Wally’s ‘the world is a cruel, cruel place’ expression. The audible click of his iPhone caught Wally’s attention, however, and the speedster turned on him indignantly.

“Did you just take a photo? Are you kidding me?”

Dick laughed and sauntered away, holding the phone above his head. “Don’t worry, it’s very flattering! You look like you’re being beaten by Zatanna’s bloody barbecue tongs. I can’t decide if that’s kinky or just plain disturbing.”

Wally scowled and stomped after him, but Dick, having anticipated this, vaulted over Conner’s prone form and took off sprinting for the golden-tinged waves. He was still shirtless from their earlier swimming session, so he merely popped his iPhone – Bat-proofed to be salt water resistant – between his teeth and struck out for the deeper water. Wally was on him a few seconds later, making a huge splash as he tore ungainly into the waves, arms latching around Dick’s torso to try and grab the phone from his mouth. But the Boy Wonder wriggled out of his slippery grasp and dove under the surface, staying there until his laughter at Wally’s failed attempts to retrieve him forced him back up.

“Are you half-mermaid or something, ‘cause that’s not physically possible whatever you just did,” Wally accused, treading water as Dick gasped for breath, holding the offending piece of technology above his head again. He snapped another photo of Wally’s disgruntled face while he was at it; wet hair plastered to his cheeks, skin flushed with exertion.

“Mer _man_ ,” he corrected with a wink, one that Wally could actually see because Dick’s shades had fallen off sometime during their struggle. Wally grinned and dove under water to grab Dick’s leg, yanking it up fast enough that Dick nearly went toppling backwards under the frothy waves.

“Ah—what are you doing?!” Dick yelped, struggling to stay afloat and kick Wally off at the same time. The speedster only grinned, dodging his blows, and held Dick’s leg up higher so that his head disappeared under the surface.

“Just checking that there are no fins.” He began swimming backwards, hauling Dick behind him like a deadweight, unwavering in his intent until Dick gave up fighting and let himself be dragged all the way back up onto the beach. They collapsed on the wet sand on their backs, exhausted, and Dick wriggled his toes in Wally’s face.

“See? Still human.” They broke down in laughter at that, rolling around on the ground till the grains stuck to their wet skin and Dick was fairly certain there was sand in places he didn’t even know existed.

It felt wonderful to just _laugh_ , hysterically, at a joke that wasn’t even funny, but just because they _could._ Their mission last night had been a failure, and two civilians had died despite their best efforts; Dick hadn’t realized until now how much he _needed_ this. They all did.

“Yo, lovebirds! Dinner’s ready!” Artemis called from further up the beach, and the two boys raced each other up the incline. (Dick won, obviously. A bat _never_ leaves his utility belt behind after all.)

Wally was clutching the hamburger M’gann gave him with both hands, staring at it in adoration as if it held all the answers to the universe. (42, actually.)

“Oh my god. This is possibly the most beautiful burger I have ever seen in my life. It’s just _beau_ tiful. Gorgeous. I want to marry it, I do, I totally would. I swear, I don’t think I can even _eat_ it, that would be marring one of Earth’s Eight Great Wonders.”

Dick snatched the burger from Wally’s reverent fingertips without ceremony and took an enormous bite, nearly choking of laughter at Wally’s utterly flabbergasted face. He’d never before seen such an acutely scandalized expression before.

_“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”_

Dick swallowed his mouthful with difficulty and clutched his stomach to hold in the laughter. “You were salivating all over my towel, it was pretty disgusting.” He raised a finely trimmed eyebrow. “And I decided to put everyone else out of their misery before you decided to _actually_ make love to the damn thing.”

“ _Thank_ you, finally someone said it,” Artemis agreed heartily, dishing out the other hamburgers to Conner, Kaldur, Zee and M’gann.  Dick handed the half-eaten burger back to Wally with a shit-eating grin, accepting his own designated one from his female teammate.

“Go ahead and eat now, it was delicious,” Dick snickered, licking his lips obscenely and making the redhead flush with anger. Or, at least that’s what Dick assumed.

“You are the actual _worst_ ,” he grumbled, sulking in the corner for the rest of the meal until Dick scooted over and slipped the remainder of his own burger into Wally’s empty plate with an almost-apologetical smile and a twinkle of blue eyes.

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, after all.

“You wanna go out for ice-cream after this?” Dick murmured conspiratorially into Wally’s ear as the seven of them watched the sun set in companionable silence.

Wally’s answering grin said it all.

And that night was, without a doubt, one of the most carefree and happiest they had ever shared. There wouldn’t be all that many of the like.  
  


~::~::~::~::~

 **Five years before the end** was when Wally had the best sweet-sixteen _ever._

“Hey I just heard, you saved an entire country!” Robin appeared in the door of Wally’s souvenir room, arms spread wide and a genuine smile of his face. “ _Major_ kudos.”

Wally bit back a proud smile, and hid his current emotional state under his usual cover of conceitedness: “Well, what can I say, I’m the man!”

He could almost _feel_ Robin’s eye-roll, despite the shades… He’d gotten quite adept at that, frankly.

“Yeah yeah,” the brunet dismissed  him, but he was still smiling. “Happy birthday, Walls.” Wally half-turned, carefully setting the empty heart-container on the shelf and brushing away an imaginary speck of dust. Yeah, he was really happy. Happy birthday indeed. Seeing that girl’s smile, well that was worth missing his first Team-Mentor mission.

“Thanks, man,” he said quietly. Robin was still standing there, hands tucked into his pockets and evidently waiting for Wally to join him, so he bid his silent goodbyes to his souvenirs and turned the lights off as he left.

“You gotta tell me about _your_ mission though, dude. Ice fortresses, how cool is that?”

Robin snorted. “We looked ridiculous in those polar stealth suits is all I can say.”

“Yeah, you kinda did,” Wally agreed with a huffing laugh. “Didn’t Batman design them though?”

“Precisely.”

They grinned at each other and bumped shoulders.

“So.” Robin’s lips turned down at the corners. “I didn’t know what to get you, KF, and with the mission today I didn’t have time for last minute shopping,” he said bluntly, gaze shifting away guiltily. “Tell me something you want?”

That surprised him, because Robin was usually on top of these kinds of things. Oh well, he appreciated honesty.

“Dude, you don’t have to get me anything, I know you were the one who planned the surprise party and got M’gann my favorite cake recipe, so really, it’s fine. I’ve had a fantastic birthday as it is.”

They had stopped in the living room of the Cave, and Robin perched on the armrest of the sofa. “Just name one thing you’d like? I’ll get you anything.”

“Anything?” Wally raised an eyebrow.

Robin made a face at him. “Not a kiss, like you wrangled out of M’gann,” and Wally snorted, heading into the kitchen for a yogurt.

“Shame.”

“Video game?” Robin suggested, deciding to ignore that comment.

“I always play them at your place, so that’s pointless.”

“Clothes? Shoes? Running shoes? I dunno man, what do you want?”

Wally picked out a strawberry flavored one. “I’m not a fourteen year old girl; don’t get me clothes!”

“Well what then? A _car?”_

Wally raised both eyebrows this time. “You’d get me a _car_?”

Robin groaned and flopped over backwards on the couch, his spine bending in a way that would probably put normal people in the hospital. Freaky acrobatic kid. “ _No._ Well, maybe, if that’s what you want??”

The speedster stared at him bug-eyed. “Uh. What? I mean, no, my dad’s getting that all sorted out but—you were seriously considering it?” He took his yogurt over to the sofa and sat down beside his best friend’s head.

Robin simply shrugged. “Money’s not exactly an issue for me.”

“Who are you, _Bruce Wayne?!_ ” exclaimed Wally, nearly poking Robin in the eye with his spoon. What thirteen year old kid could possibly afford a car??

He vaguely registered how Robin suddenly went very, very still. Oh… shit… wait… Wally leaned back in the couch, struck with curiosity. “Okay, actually I know what I want: tell me something about yourself that I don’t already know…? Not… I mean, not your secret identity or anything, but uh… unless you want to of course, but just… y’know…”

Robin’s expression didn’t change for the longest time, and Wally was almost afraid he’d scared him off or something. Then he cracked a small grin.

“Well. My favorite color’s green.”

Wally stabbed his yogurt in frustration, because he probably should have seen that coming. “That doesn’t count!”

“Sure it does; you didn’t know that, right?”

Wally poked him in the stomach, making Robin do a funny kind of giggling noise before he twisted away. “Another thing. Please?”

Robin regarded him for a long moment from behind his glasses, propping his legs up over the back of the couch so he could stare at the ceiling. “You pretty much guessed it already,” he said quietly.

Wally tilted his head in confusion. “Guessed… what?”

“Who I am.”

Wally wracked his brains for the last fifteen minutes of conversation. What. Stupid enigmatic Bat-kid, why couldn’t he just say what he meant and meant what he said like a normal person?

Robin snickered at Wally’s constipated expression, and then reached up to push his glasses off his face till they toppled over onto the floor behind him. He fixed Wally with eyes blue like the sea at dawn and a familiar, quirky smile.

Oh.

Well damn.

“Hah. Oh god. _That’s_ why you always get so pissed when I make dick-jokes.” Wally burst out laughing at Robin’s scowl.

“How old are you again? Oh wait, you just turned _sixteen._ The age of wisdom and maturity. Ladies and gentlemen, we hereby see a perfect example of this specimen of the human race.”

Wally managed, with some difficulty, to suppress his mirth when faced with Dick’s supremely unimpressed look.

“Sorry dude. I couldn’t resist.”

Dick rolled his eyes, and Wally nearly got up and danced in a circle because _yay, I can actually see it now!_

“You suck.”

“Best birthday gift ever _._ Thanks, _Dick!_ ” Dick cuffed him over the back of his head, but Wally only laughed some more because Dick’s blue eyes were smiling and he suddenly felt so _happy._

“Am I totally out of line to ask for that car now?” he said after a moment, chucking his empty yogurt cup at the garbage can and missing by a mile.

“You’d have a better chance asking for that kiss.”

Wally grinned widely, and decided to take that as a totally _conditional_ no. Dick really was the bestest of best friends.

~::~::~::~::~

 **The beginning** was when Wally blurted out incredulously, _“That’s_ Robin?”, not even his fear of Batman halting his tongue under the shock of his current revelation. “But he’s _tiny!”_

Wally had never seen the Boy Wonder, (the first sidekick, how cool is that?), other than a blurry photo on Uncle Barry’s cellphone and frightening stories from Mr. Superman. He’d been imagining a smaller version of Batman, perhaps with a few more splashes of color to match his name, but not… this…???

Robin had appeared out of nowhere a few seconds ago, swinging upside-down from the top of some building from his grappling line, and was now suspended five feet above the ground staring into Wally’s face. Still upside down. And he had this weird cackle that kind of made Wally’s skin crawl, but there were so many things wrong with this picture already.

Robin had narrow shoulders and thin, slender wrists like he was a ballerina not a crime-fighter, and his face still had that softness around the edges that betrayed his youth. Wally had known Robin was young, but this kid looked like he was eight or something!

And, as mentioned before, he was _tiny._

He was also now scowling at Wally, apparently not appreciating his comment. Whoops… stupid mouth! Even Batman was giving him the evil eye now. He better start writing his will because there was a possibility he wouldn’t make it out of this one alive. Batman scared the living hell out of him.

“ _That’s_ Kid Flash?” Robin repeated in a mocking tone of voice, and Wally was again thrown off by the pitch. “But he’s so _stupid._ ”

“Hey!”

“Robin,” Batman cut across them with a curt tone of voice, and Wally shrank against his uncle’s side even though he wasn’t even the one being addressed. The two Bats did some kind of silent eye communication thing, because Robin sighed, unhooked his grapple, and flipped to the ground smoothly so he was actually standing upright again. (That was pretty cool, Wally had to admit. Grapples were cool.)

“Hey Wally? Let’s go,” Robin waved him over and started walking towards the main street, jumping nimbly over a puddle. The said Wally blinked, but then hurried to catch up.

“You know my name? I thought that was confidential!”

Robin’s lips twitched upwards, and Wally realized that a smile really did fit on his face better than a surly scowl ever would. “Never stopped me before.” He snickered. “Wally West, fourteen years old, attends Keystone High. Sucks at pretty much everything except for science. Especially History and Geography… For the record, the Three Gorges is in China not Japan, so you might want to check your facts before you write about them in your midterm exams.” Wally gaped. He’d only just passed those last week!

“He has a girlfriend,” Robin rattled on, “who he met in the cliché situation in which she asked you for chemistry tutoring. I might just warn you though; she’s simply securing herself a date at the next school dance in case the guy she likes turns her down.”

Wally blinked.

“Oops, is that a sensitive subject? Sorry.” Robin sounded far from sorry. “I’ve never had a girlfriend so I wouldn’t know.”

No wonder he didn’t with an attitude like that. Wally crossed his arms.

“You live with your parents but you actually prefer it by your uncle’s house and—” He broke off, apparently seeing something in Wally’s eyes. “Need I continue?”

“No you need _not,”_ the speedster snapped. “Fine, I get it, you’re tiny but you’re smart, and I have no idea how you figured all that out which is a little creepy but you’re Batman’s sidekick so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. But you’re still…” Robin’s eyes flashed behind the mask and Wally faltered.

“I’m still…?”

“Um. You’re smart and all, but can you actually pack a punch in those tiny fists of yours?” He grinned. “There’s more to crime-fighting than detective work.”

Wally didn’t even have a chance to process what was happening before suddenly pain was blossoming over his face and he stumbled a step back, clutching his nose in shock.

“What the fuck!” His voice was muffled by the blood pouring down his face and the sharp pain blurring his vision. Robin looked appropriately horrified. “What did you punch me for?!” he cried.

“I thought you would move!”

“Why the hell would I move, that was so out of the blue!”

Robin made an aborted movement to examine Wally’s face. “But you’re a _speedster!”_

Wally felt along the bridge of his nose, trying to determine if it was broken or not. Yes, it was.

“Yeah but, that’s not… You don’t just _punch people in the face_ when they’re least expecting it!”

“Batman taught me to always have my guard up. I’m sorry…” This time, he did sound genuinely sorry. Wally groaned, not ready for forgiveness.

“You broke it,” he whined. Robin stepped forward hesitantly with a tissue that he’d procured from somewhere, and reached up to wipe the blood off of Wally’s face. “Do you know how to set it? ‘Cause superspeed healing… It’ll heal crooked otherwise.”

Robin nodded, swatting Wally’s hands away and then placing his fingertips on Wally’s face, shifting his nose back into place without warning. Wally nearly had to bite his tongue in half to stop from screaming in agony. Did this guy have no pain sensors or something?? There was that strange, tingling feeling under his skin which he associated with his muscles and skin cells knitting themselves back together again. Weird.

“Jeez… You’re unbelievable…”

They stared at each other, and Wally could see the corner of Robin’s mouth twitch upwards. He couldn’t stop his own cathartic laughter then, and he nearly doubled over as hysterics shook his frame. He felt Robin lean against him as the sound of their mirth echoed off Gotham’s grimy alleyway walls, joining in the air between them.

Batman and the Flash caught up with them then, walking close together in private conversation, but broke of when they saw the two boys still laughing in the middle of the street; Wally’s face and Robin’s hands covered in fresh blood.

They probably looked like they’d just murdered someone; that made Wally crack up under a fresh wave of laughter.

“Wally, what on earth happened?”

Robin looked up because the other speedster still wasn’t capable of speech.

“I punched him in the face.”

Batman was doing the glaring thing again. Bat-glare, Wally coined the term. But now it had turned deadly and Wally felt compelled to stand half in front of the other kid. “It’s my fault, sir. I said he couldn’t punch.” He shot a glance at Robin, cracking a grin. “Evidently I was wrong.”

Barry and Batman exchanged a look, but Wally had already turned away from them again, his attention back on his new acquaintance.

“So, you know everything about me, but all I know is that you’re kinda weird and creepy and you throw a mean punch. Care to enlighten me?”

Robin snickered, tucking the bloody tissue into the back pocket of the speedster’s jeans as if that was just totally normal. They turned and started walking down the alleyway, shoulder to shoulder.

“Yeah, there’s this cute café down the road, I know the owners. Let’s talk there? They feed speedsters for half-price.”

Wally smiled to himself and followed happily, the prospect of good food and even better company already quickening his footsteps and dispelling any lingering pain.

He remembered thinking to himself, as he watched Robin chatter away excitedly beside him, that _this guy right here? He’s going to be my best friend._

_I can feel it already._


End file.
